Yogurt starter, which is sold in many supermarkets and pharmacies, will help prepare a wonderful dietary product, natural and useful. Already several centuries ago, yogurt in Europe was not only a food product, but also a medicine that was willingly used in traditional medicine. Description of various starter cultures and recipes for homemade yogurt will help you better understand the principle of their action and understand the intricacies of the cooking process.
How to make yogurt starter at home?
To make yogurt at home, you can use dry sourdough or cook live sourdough with milk and store in the refrigerator.
Dry starter for yogurt
The advantages of dry sourdough are in a long shelf life, which is at least 1 year from the date of manufacture. To get homemade natural yogurt, it is chosen at a pharmacy or in a store, and then stored in a dark, cool place. During the preparation of yogurt, the starter is added to warm milk and the composition is kept for 6-8 hours at a temperature of 36 to 38 degrees. Ready yogurt is stored in the refrigerator for no more than 5 days.
Live starter for yogurt
To prepare live sourdough, dry sourdough is added to warm milk. Milk is taken half as much as for ordinary yogurt (per 1 g - half a liter of milk).
To prepare live sourdough:
- The milk is boiled.
- Then cooled to 38 degrees.
- The starter is added and the composition is kept in a yogurt maker or a warm place for 8 hours.
The resulting viscous mass of slightly acidic taste is a live sourdough that must be stored in a clean, tightly closed jar in the refrigerator no more than 5 days. To make yogurt out of it, take 2 tbsp. l. working starter for 1 liter of milk. Cooking time will be about 8 hours.
Which sourdough for yogurt is better: comparative characteristics
Doctors often prescribe yogurt starters as medicinal preparations to restore the intestinal microflora. Wrongly chosen, they can cause unpleasant consequences. It is advisable to consult with your doctor which sourdough is best for you. For example, if you have lactose intolerance, you need to buy starters with lactulose. For children, there are also special preparations that can be taken from birth.
Homemade yogurt starter cultures: video recipe
What do you need to make yogurt starter?
You will need: - 2 liters of milk (any fat content); - dry sourdough; - a two-liter container; - a towel or a large sheet of paper.
Since beneficial bacteria have the ability to become pathogenic, wash your hands thoroughly before starting work, and use only clean dishes during the preparation of the starter.
You can buy the basis for the starter at the pharmacy. For example, it can be dry starter cultures "Evitalia", "Narine", "Lactobacterin", "Bifidumbacterin". A substance that contains beneficial live bacteria capable of reproduction is suitable.
Many people advise using purchased yogurt, which is positioned as live, as a starter for yogurt. But it is undesirable to do this, because together with him in your homemade yogurt harmful bacteria can also enter and develop during the heating process, which can lead to indigestion or even poisoning.
How to make yogurt starter
After boiling 2 liters of milk, cool it to a temperature of 37–42 °, then remove the foam from it. Dilute the purchased sourdough in warmed milk, and then add this mixture to the cooled boiled milk. Mix the resulting composition thoroughly. Close the container with the contents tightly with a lid. Wrap the bowl with fermented milk in 3-5 layers of thick paper, then wrap it with a thick cloth and put it in a warm place for 11-13 hours to ferment (for example, near a heater or radiator). Next, after cooling the fermented milk, place it in the refrigerator for two hours. After that, you can use the starter to make homemade yogurt.
You can use the original sourdough for up to 18 days.
2 liters finished sourdough should be divided into parts: - 2/3 for direct consumption, starting the course of treatment (in case you are going to use yogurt in medicinal purposes); - 1/3 for making new portions of homemade yogurt, leaving this part of the current starter in the refrigerator.
To prepare the next portions of yogurt, boil another 2 liters of milk, then cool it to a temperature of 37–42 °. Remove the formed foam. With a clean spoon, add 2/3 cup of the active starter, then mix and close the container tightly with a lid. Wrap the container with fermented milk in 3-5 layers of thick paper, then wrap it in a thick cloth and put it in a heated fermentation room for 8-9 hours. After that, put the fermented milk in the refrigerator. After 3 hours, ready-made yogurt you can eat. Use the rest of the current starter according to the same algorithm, that is, at the rate of 2/3 cup of starter for 2 liters of milk.
It has long been known that yogurt is not only good for the body, but also a delicious and nutritious fermented milk product. You can easily buy it at any store or cook it yourself at home using a variety of technologies. Even a novice cook can make yogurt.
Features of making homemade yogurt
Today healthy and proper nutrition is becoming more and more popular. In this regard, a wide range of recipes has appeared. healthy meals. Among them is homemade yogurt. Someone will ask why make an effort if you can buy this fermented milk product in the store? It's simple: natural live yogurt does not contain dyes, flavor enhancers and others harmful additives. Besides, home version strengthens the immune system, improves bowel function, blocks the development of pathogenic microorganisms, promotes the absorption of vitamins, minerals and amino acids.
Before making yogurt at home, you should learn a few interesting nuances:
- You need to choose the right milk. It is better to use a homemade rustic product or pasteurized. Homemade milk must be boiled, and pasteurized milk must be heated to 90 degrees. To make yogurt tasty, lactic acid bacteria must actively multiply, for this, fermentation products are placed in milk at a temperature of 40-45 ° C.
- It is advisable to heat or boil in a bowl with a thick stainless steel bottom, you can also take a ceramic container for this purpose. It is better to ferment milk in glassware (for example, in half-liter jars).
- The sourdough must also be chosen wisely. Often used dry sourdough in small bottles. It is always available for sale. The contents of the bottle are diluted in a small amount of milk, mixed well, and then combined with the rest of the liquid.
- Various additives(fruits, berries, sugar) is recommended to be placed in a ready-made fermented milk product so as not to interrupt the fermentation procedure.
- To enjoy real delicious yogurt at home, or for example, prepare kefir using a similar technology, they should be placed in the refrigerator for 3-4 hours.
Starter for yogurt
Yogurt starter is sold in pharmacies, specialized stores or supermarkets. Often, the following products are used to make yogurt:
- Bacterial Ukrainian sourdough Vivo is known among lovers of healthy and delicious food. With its help, yoghurts are often prepared with their own hands.
- Bulgarian products trademark"Genesis" is a very high-quality, time-tested product that is ideal for homemade sour milk.
- Sourdough from Armenia called "Narine" is produced in dry and liquid form. Both options make it possible to make delicious, thick and appetizing yogurt for the whole family.
- Italian lactic acid bacteria "Good Food" (Good Food) have recently appeared on the market, but are already confidently gaining popularity and have positive reviews among consumers. They help to quickly prepare the child healthy food for breakfast or lunch.
How to make natural yogurt at home - recipes
For fast, convenient, proper cooking sour-milk dessert, several options are used. For example, it can be made using special household appliances - a yogurt maker. For these purposes, use a slow cooker, double boiler, thermos or conventional oven. Here are a few detailed recipes healthy, wholesome fermented milk food for adults and children.
In a yogurt maker
Prepared with a yogurt maker delicious food. This process takes a little time, the result is very tasty and uniform in texture. It is recommended to use units from companies such as Tefal (Tefal) or Moulinex (Mulinex). To make yogurt, you need to take the following products:
- medium fat milk - 1 liter;
- liquid sourdough "Narine" (or any other).
Cooking:
- First, we make a mixture for fermentation. Warm up a small amount of milk (100-150 g) to 40 ° C, mix it with sourdough.
- The resulting liquid is kept in a yogurt maker for 10-12 hours, put in the refrigerator for another couple of hours.
- After that, you can start making yogurt. We heat the milk, mix it thoroughly with 2 tablespoons of the starter culture, pour it into special containers that the yogurt maker is equipped with. We start the device for 6 hours.
- Then the jars are closed with lids, put in the refrigerator for several hours.
In a slow cooker
If it is not possible to purchase a yogurt maker, then you can easily make yogurt in a slow cooker. Required Ingredients to prepare treats:
- homemade milk (or pasteurized) - liter;
- dry sourdough - 1 bottle or sachet.
Cooking:
- First you need to prepare containers for yogurt. Perfect for glass liter jars that must be sterilized.
- Pour the starter into the milk, mix.
- We pour the liquid into jars, put them in a slow cooker.
- Fill the containers with water (to the brim), set the “Heating” program for 6 hours.
- After turning off the unit, the yogurt should not be removed, let it brew a little.
- To stop fermentation, close the jars with lids, put in the refrigerator.
- sour milk home product eat separately or with cottage cheese, salads, add to other dishes.
in a thermos
Another simple and interesting option to make yogurt at home is a thermos. This vessel, which is available in almost every home, is perfect for such purposes. Thanks to the following recipe, you can get a healthy and tasty sour-milk dessert for a child or an adult. Cooking requires:
- liter thermos;
- milk - 1-1.5 liters;
- starter cultures in powder.
The yogurt recipe looks like this:
- Home-type milk must be boiled, cooled to about 40 degrees. The pasteurized product can simply be heated to the desired temperature regime.
- We take 3 tablespoons of milk, mix with sourdough, pour the resulting “cocktail” into the rest of the liquid.
- Mix everything thoroughly.
- We place the future yogurt in a thermos, tightly twist, leave for 7-9 hours.
In the oven
There is a chance to make yogurt at home using a classic oven. Ingredients for the sour milk dish:
- any dry sourdough - 1 bottle;
- milk - one liter.
Cooking:
- Milk, boil or heat, as in previous recipes.
- Mix the fermentation powder with milk, pour the mixture into glass jars.
- Heat the oven to 50°C, turn off. It is desirable that it be equipped good thermostat. We put inside the container with the future delicacy, cover with a piece of cloth.
- Periodically, you will need to preheat the oven to maintain the temperature, because yogurt is cooked for 7-8 hours.
- finished product put in the cold for a few hours.
how to make greek yogurt with fruit
In taste and consistency, Greek sour-milk usefulness is similar to curdled milk or matsoni. Compared to classic yogurt, this option is thicker, more concentrated. It doesn't reduce it. palatability rather the opposite. To make a Greek dessert, you will need the following products:
- not very fat homemade milk - 1-2 liters;
- any sourdough (dry or liquid);
- fruit.
Cooking:
- Bring the milk to a boil, remove from heat after a minute.
- We cool it to 38-40 degrees, add the leaven.
- Dishes with future yogurt (for example, a pot or a jar) are well wrapped, kept for 6 hours. After this period, the contents of the dishes are transferred to gauze, we wait until all the whey has drained.
- If you want to do more thick yogurt, then you need to add sour cream, cream or even cottage cheese to it.
Drinkable yogurt made from homemade milk
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homemade yogurt
Natural yogurt consists of three components: whole milk, Bulgarian stick (Lactobacillus bulgaricus) and thermophilic lactic streptococcus (Streptococcus thermophilus).
These microorganisms are extremely useful: they normalize the intestinal flora, stop the growth of putrefactive and pathogenic bacteria, strengthen the immune system, weakened by poor ecology and low-quality products. Stimulate the absorption of the most important amino acids and vitamins (including rare K and groups B, D), calcium, iron.
Natural yogurt should be free of preservatives, stabilizers, flavorings, colorants, sugar additives and sweeteners. The shelf life of natural yogurt is no more than a month. The problem is that during industrial production and transportation, beneficial bacteria have very little chance of surviving. And if there is a meager amount of them in yogurt, the effect of it tends to zero.
How to make natural yogurt at home?
If you need natural yogurt, it is most reliable to cook it yourself. I asked Irina Rozhkova, senior researcher at the Central Microbiology Laboratory of the All-Russian Research Institute of the Dairy Industry, to give step by step instructions and describe typical mistakes that we allow when we take yogurt at home.
Step 1. Buy a Yogurt Starter
Denis Bykovskikh
Sourdough is sold in pharmacies. In Moscow, it can also be purchased at the All-Russian Research Institute of the Dairy Industry. It is enough to prepare several liters of yogurt.
Not worth it: use store-bought yogurt as a starter, even without additives and preservatives. The point is that due to the characteristics fermented milk product an extraneous contaminating microflora (most often E. coli) is inevitably formed in it. When fermenting, such pathogenic microflora can increase, which leads to infections and food poisoning.
Step 2. Choose milk
Ideal - pasteurized or ultra-pasteurized milk with a short shelf life. Dairy experts trust, for example, the products of the Obninsk Dairy Plant, Valio and Ruzskoye Moloko.
Not worth: make yogurt with sterilized milk. The European Union is already abandoning this technology: vitamins and other valuable substances are lost in such milk. In addition, a lot of salt and stabilizers are added to the sterilized drink.
Step 3. Dilute the starter
Bring a glass of milk (150-200 ml) to a boil and cool to + 40-45 degrees. Add 5-7 ml of this milk to the starter bottle. Shake lightly. Mix the resulting liquid from the bottle with the rest of the milk. Pour into a thermos or yogurt maker. Place in a warm place, such as near the radiator, or cover with a pillow. Ferment eight to ten hours. Liquid sourdough can be stored in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.
Not worth: checking the temperature of milk with your finger is not hygienic. Apply the container to your cheek - if the skin tolerates, the temperature is ideal. Do not pour ingredients into a plastic container. Even with slight heating, plastic can release carcinogenic phenol-formaldehyde resins into milk.
Step 4: Prepare the Yogurt
Boil and cool to + 40-45 degrees one liter of milk. Put a tablespoon of diluted sourdough in it. Pour into glass jar, thermos or yogurt maker and ferment for five to six hours. This yogurt can be stored in the refrigerator for five to seven days.
Not worth: add for thickening powdered milk — useful qualities Your homemade yogurt will definitely not add it. Do not ignore the rules of sanitary safety - always treat the dishes with boiling water.
A few months ago I bought a yogurt maker. Since then, I have been delighted with such a useful purchase! I often cook yogurt and serve it to the whole family.
Natural homemade yogurt is really healthy, unlike the substance that is sold in stores.
Firstly, in purchased yoghurts, the percentage of live microflora is much lower. And the longer yogurt is stored on the store shelf, the less beneficial bacteria it contains.
Secondly, in addition to milk and sourdough, sugar and various fillers with a not very natural composition are added to store-bought yogurts. Dyes, flavors, thickeners, stabilizers ... In general, a dubious compiler.
In natural homemade yoghurt All the ingredients are known and understood, nothing more. And such yogurt is eaten 1-2 days after preparation. This means that there is a maximum amount of living bacteria there. The benefits for digestion are maximum.
I want to point out right now: no need to ferment your yogurt at the store. The quality of such yogurt will be low. Buy a normal sourdough starter from a pharmacy or online store. I use Vivo starters. So far I have tried yogurt, lactulose yogurt, symbilact and sour cream. In the near future I want to try more Lactina starter cultures.
Another nuance about heating milk. Instructions for starters and yogurt makers usually recommend preheating the milk to 40 degrees, and then introducing the starter.
I have found that when preheating milk, the yogurt comes out lumpy. Regular pasteurized milk is also lumpy (maybe I bought the wrong milk?).
Therefore, after several experiments, I began to use only baked milk. I take it directly from the refrigerator, do not heat it. Yoghurt is of excellent quality - tender, tasty, without lumps. Sometimes I replace some of the milk with cream to make the yogurt creamier and more tender.
Ingredients for making homemade sourdough yogurt:
- 1 liter baked milk. I use 4% fat milk.
- 1 package of sourdough (weight - 1 g).
How to make sourdough yogurt in a yogurt maker
1. Pour some milk into a measuring cup with a pouring spout. Pour the starter from the package there, mix thoroughly with a fork. Pour in the remaining milk and mix thoroughly again.
2. Pour milk with sourdough into jars and put the jars in the yogurt maker. You do not need to close the jars with lids! Now cover the yogurt maker with a lid and turn it on. If the yogurt maker is automatic, then when the desired temperature is reached, it will turn itself off. I have Tefal yogurt maker la 8872 - automatic, it turns off the heating after about 45 minutes. Please read the instructions for your yogurt maker.
We leave the jars of milk in the yogurt maker for 5-7 hours. All this time we do not shake the yogurt maker, do not open and do not mix the contents!
After 5-7 hours, we take out the jars of yogurt, close them with lids and send them to the refrigerator. After 2-4 hours, enjoy chilled homemade yogurt.
Ingredients for refermenting yogurt at home:
- 900 ml of baked milk.
- 100 ml natural homemade yogurt (1 jar)
How to ferment homemade yogurt in a yogurt maker
1. Pour half of the milk into a measuring cup with a pouring spout. We spread all the yogurt from the jar, mix with milk with a fork. Pour the remaining milk into the glass and mix again with a fork.
2. The second step is the same as for the initial fermentation (see above)
How to make homemade yogurt in a slow cooker
If you do not have a yogurt maker, but have a slow cooker, then you can cook yogurt in it. Pour the mixed ingredients into jars or glass glasses. You can use baby food jars.
We close the jars with lids or plastic wrap.
We put a waffle towel or a cloth napkin on the bottom of the multicooker pan.
We put jars in the multicooker.
Pour warm (40 degrees C) water into the slow cooker so that the water does not reach the throat of the jars.
Close the lid of the multicooker, turn on the “Heating” mode for 15 minutes. After an hour, turn on the heating again for 15 minutes. After that, we keep the yogurt in the slow cooker for 4-6 hours, then take it out and put it in the refrigerator.
How to make natural homemade yogurt in a thermos
If you do not have a yogurt maker or a slow cooker, then you can cook yogurt in a simple thermos. To do this, you will have to preheat the milk to 40 degrees. Otherwise, the principle is the same - the ingredients are mixed and poured into a thermos. The thermos is wrapped in a blanket and placed in a warm place for several hours. Then the yogurt is laid out in portioned jars and cooled in the refrigerator.
Note to the owner
- Mix the ingredients for yogurt with a fork, not a whisk, to avoid whipping.
- The longer the fermentation time, the thicker and more acidic the yogurt will be. Don't overcook if you don't like sour.
- If you want to make a runny drinking yogurt, then reduce the fermentation time to 4-5 hours. If you want thick, then keep 7-8 hours. It makes no sense to keep longer - the yogurt will no longer become thicker, but it will acquire a sour taste.
- Chilled yogurt becomes thicker.
- Yogurt with kiwi pieces should be eaten immediately! If you mix yogurt with kiwi and leave for more than 15 minutes, the yogurt will become bitter. Kiwi contains substances that break down milk proteins.
